Day #14: Ethan's first official piano lesson!

I went to Zumba this morning (I'm sore!) and then took the boys to the library. We signed up for the summer reading program which will be fun.

I presented Ethan with the Primer Level Piano Adventures lesson book, and with an incentive program I have been devising. (I kinda tried piano with him awhile back and I could tell it was going to be a fight, so I decided to back off).  My new plan was that I told him for every page we do, he can put a sticker on it and once he gets to 5 stickers, he can choose one of the following:  an extra treat, 15 extra minutes on the wii, or a surprise. 
We sat down today and I thought he might do 2 or 3 stickers--but he just wanted to keep going and going and we ended up doing 10!  He got a surprise for the first 5 (a watering can Nana got for him) and then a wii coupon for the second 5.  I kept telling him, "okay, we can stop now if you want to be done" and he kept wanting to do more.  In an hour today, he can now situate himself at the piano, he knows the names of the finger numbers and can tap them separately and together, and he can tap the beat of quarter notes with the metronome at various speeds.  The last page we did was an actual duet where he plays right hand and left hand alternating while I play a cool diddy on top.  It was so much fun!  He was laughing when he messed up and I was making funny faces and he knew he didn't HAVE to, but that he could if he wanted. Honestly, it was a dream come true to have a real piano lesson with my son.  I think the set up is good, and that we will continue to have fun and make progress.


There is a joy that comes from learning to do something well, and an even greater joy when you get to teach someone else how to do it.  And an even GREATER joy when that someone is your child.  This is fun.